(FORTUNE Magazine) – You can't keep a rich man down. Aced out of control of RJR Nabisco in 1988, CEO F. Ross Johnson walked away with $56 million. In 1991 he teamed with conglomerateur David Mahoney and a partner to pay $6 million for 38% of Bionaire, a Lachine, Quebec, maker of machines to filter smoke -- that's right, cigarette smoke -- from indoor air. Bionaire earned $1.9 million on $54.4 million in 1992 sales. Peanuts, you say? Chairman Johnson, 61, has packed Bionaire with ex-RJR bigwigs and its ''working board'' with cronies like hockey great Bobby Orr. Some who know Johnson think he'll use the company to acquire bigger businesses. Investors seem to believe that too. Bionaire's stock, which sold for $1.63 (Canadian) a share when Johnson arrived, recently traded at $3.50 -- a 107% annual return.